We're just three days from Christmas. Ideally, that means many of you are on holiday break in some form and have the week to enjoy time with family, friends, and football.
You're also in luck when it comes to football. The bowl schedule picks up steam this week. The Pac-12 started on Saturday with Utah's romp of Colorado State on Saturday, but the Big Ten and the ACC start their bowl schedules on Friday. The SEC starts its bowl schedule on Saturday.
Let's talk about what will be on TV this week.
Monday
Brigham Young vs. Memphis (ESPN, 2 p.m.). This is the inaugural Miami Beach Bowl, to be played in that frivolous waste of money called "Marlins Park" on the site of the old Orange Bowl.
As a college football independent, BYU ties itself to a bowl game if it does not make the playoff. For this year, that's the Miami Beach Bowl. It marks BYU's first bowl game in the Sunshine State since the 1985 Citrus Bowl, in which it lost 10-7 to Ohio State. Given how BYU collapsed after Taysom Hill's injury, BYU is happy to be 8-4 and playing in this game.
Memphis, the 9-3 American Athletic Conference champion, might be the real attraction today. If the BCS were still in operation, some unfortunate bowl game (Fiesta or Orange, in all likelihood) would be saddled with them as a guaranteed BCS participant.
Tuesday
Marshall vs. Northern Illinois (ESPN, 6 p.m.). This is the inaugural Boca Raton Bowl, to be played on Florida Atlantic University's campus. We have this bowl game because apparently Palm Beach County wants one too.
That said, it got a great matchup for its first go-around as an NCAA-sanctioned event. It's the MAC Champion against the Conference USA champion. Not bad.
Navy vs. San Diego State (ESPN, 9:30 p.m.). This is the Poinsettia Bowl, another signature bowl game among the early ones before Christmas.
Navy and San Diego State played each other in this same bowl game in 2010. Brady Hoke, then San Diego State's head coach, led the Aztecs to a 35-14 win before taking the job at Michigan a few weeks later.
Wednesday
Central Michigan vs. Western Kentucky (ESPN, 12 p.m.). This is the inaugural Bahamas Bowl, which, not gonna lie, I want as a Big Ten tie-in. I'd trade the Outback Bowl for it in a heartbeat. Tampa or Bahamas? That's not even a real choice set.
Don't believe me? Check out Central Michigan's players' reaction to the Bahamas Bowl selection.
Fresno State vs. Rice (ESPN, 8 p.m.). The Hawai'i Bowl is typically known for offensive displays. To that extent, this bowl game may disappoint. This will pit the 56th-ranked Fresno State offense against the 73rd-ranked Rice offense.
Rice is 7-5 and Fresno State is 6-7. Fresno State got a waiver to participate in this game because it lost the Mountain West Conference Championship Game.
Friday
Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech (ESPN, 1 p.m.). Illinois is the first Big Ten team on the schedule. It will play in the Heart of Dallas Bowl against Louisiana Tech.
Vegas likes Louisiana Tech -6 over the Illini. I've given reasons in my Big Ten bowl preview from a few weeks ago why optimism for the Illini is not necessarily unwarranted.
I guess I wouldn't bet on it, though.
Rutgers vs. North Carolina (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.). Rutgers enlisted in the Big Ten hoping it might get less crappy bowl assignments. In its first year in the league, it drew the ultimate Big Ten postseason penalty: a trip to Detroit in the Quick Lane Bowl.
Vegas likes UNC by a field goal. I don't disagree, though it's worth noting that Rutgers' offense looks potent, even explosive, against mediocre teams. UNC football is basically the picture in a dictionary entry defining the word "mediocre".
North Carolina State vs. Central Florida (ESPN, 8 p.m.). The ACC and the American Athletic Conference (former football Big East) have a bowl game in St. Petersburg, Florida. It's sponsored by Bitcoin. That's the joke.
Saturday
Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech (ESPN, 1 p.m.). This bowl game is nominally the Military Bowl in Washington DC. It might as well be the "Complain About Ohio State's Schedule Bowl".
Arizona State vs. Duke (CBS, 2 p.m.). The Sun Bowl is the fun bowl. It's also great for Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson to step outside their comfort zone and talk about football outside the SEC.
That said, I'm setting an over-under for ten minutes of clock time before Gary Danielson makes an impossibly forced comparison of something on the field to "Nick (Saban)" and Alabama. Any takers on the under?
Miami vs. South Carolina (ABC, 3:30 p.m.). Down South, no bowl games are bad and every bowl invitation should be regarded as a postseason reward.
This is unless the bowl invitation is the Duck Commander Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. Then you've done something wrong. Something very wrong. You should be ashamed.
Boston College vs. Penn State (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.). The Pinstripe Bowl could not have asked for two better fan bases to whom to sell tickets.
Well, I'll march part of that back. Sub out Boston College for Notre Dame and this is a Pinstripe Bowl committee's wet dream.
If you've watched these teams carefully this season, you'll know this will be a low-scoring affair. That the over-under on this game is 40 is hilarious. First one to 13 points should win this game.
Nebraska vs. USC (ESPN, 8 p.m.). What better bowl matchup for a team with an interim coach than a game against the ultimate Big Ten killer? USC has won 13-straight games against teams currently in the Big Ten. Its last loss was to Penn State in the 1996 season. This includes a home-and-home sweep for the Trojans over the Huskers in the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
This game should at least give Nebraska an opportunity to atone for this defining image of the Bill Callahan era at Nebraska. You could drive a truck through this hole.
